Gun Mages and eStryker

There is a local painting challenge (found at Tale of Warmachine Painters): 100 points in one year. So essentially, everyone in the group (and there must be 50 of us) has pledged to paint 10 points of Warmachine units per month with two "free" months away from the paint brush.

So, for July, I've painted up eStryker, worth 5 points as a Warcaster, and a unit of Gun Mages for 6 points.

Nothing special with eStryker...and honestly, he was a little rushed.

Now, my beef is with the Gun Mages. For some reason I just hated painting these guys. And I spent a lot of time on them...and still, they look rushed to me and a little incomplete. But they were just awful to do. No idea why...just didn't like the whole experience

Painting can be funny that way sometimes.

'Til next time.

D&D 5th Edition and Some Ratmen

I got the role playing bug again. So as game ideas were swirling around in my head, I heard that Wizards was putting out yet another edition of Dungeons & Dragons (called D&D Next for some reason). Actually, getting a new edition of D&D out, after the twin disasters of 4th Ed and the rocketing popularity of Pathfinder, makes perfect sense. D&D was hemorrhaging market share. Better to admit your mistake and get a better version of the game out ASAP.

Anyway, I found the idea of dipping my toes back into D&D a little intriguing. I haven't played D&D since 1st edition AD&D over 30 years ago. There have been so many superior role playing games published since then. I wondered what the state of the D&D game was 30 years on...and the price was right. I picked up the new introductory boxed set for just $20.

To be honest, I was impressed with what I found. The core of D&D hasn't changed, so there is an archaic feel to it. Six stats, D20 rolls, different sized dice for hit points and weapon damage...all that sort of thing. However, as I read the rules, I could see that they were very much more streamlined and logical than old D&D used to be. And, from what I heard about 4th edition, this one is much less "video gamey."

I had my rules and the intro adventure (which is pretty good...taking characters from 1st to 5th level in the Forgotten Realms setting) spiral bound and re-covered. The box also comes with 5 pre-generated characters (these are actually really well done and serve as a good entry point for the game) and a set of dice.

I plan on running a few intro games of the boxed set adventure with some people in August and September, just to try out the rules and see if i can cobble a regular RPG group back together.

To kick things off on the hobby front, I painted up a set of Ratmen (GW Skaven from the Island of Blood set). I'll be able to use these for role playing and skirmish gaming with Song of Blades and Heroes.

Now I need to get some Warmachine pieces finished off...this stuff never ends!

'Til next time.

Mirkwood Rangers

Last Christmas, I got a boxed set of Mirkwood Rangers (i.e. Wood Elves) from GW's Hobbit range. I was feeling a little OD'd on Warmachine, so I decided to knock these guys out this past week.

First of all, I know GW's Middle-earth range is in a smaller, more lifelike-proportioned "28mm" than their normal stuff...but these Elves seemed very small to me. Regardless, the sculpts were great, and the box of 10 figures contained no duplicates. Those two facts alone erased any misgivings I had about scale. 

Here are five of the figures assembled and based. Each figure was composed of two pieces...and the poses are very dynamic.

Some of the figures primed white.

Here, all the figures are primed, and each has been given a dark wash to pre-shade and pop out details to aid in the painting process.

Painting went backwards for me this time. I usually start with skin and work my way out on each figure. However, I wanted an overall green scheme on these Elves, and green...light green in particular...can be hard to brush paint. So I wanted to airbrush on the initial base coat. So...I masked off the faces, hair and hands with ticky-tac putty.

And then sprayed on a couple of shades of light green. I then removed the putty, which left the faces and hands ready for a good skin coat later in the process.

Before getting to the skin and hair (which I did last), I painted in the green cloth highlights, leather armor and some of the metal bits.

Finally, bows, arrows, knives, hands, faces and hair were completed...bases were finished off and the project was done.

'Til next time!

Warmachine Battle Report: Focus on Kromac

Last week, I had local Warmachine player, Josh Richter, over for a game. He brought his favorite Circle army, while I played some of my new Mercenaries. Here is the pre-game interview with Josh, along with the battle report.



I brought out my Bart/Galleon list, which, of course, featured Galleon.

Here was my Spiny Growth module. Wrong Eye, Snapjaw and Bullsnapper.

And a tarpit of Boomhowlers.

This was my armour de-buff crew: Ragman, the Lady and Holt.

Finally, this was the core of the Galleon's support crew, including a Vanguard, Dougal and the Tinker.

Josh led with Kromac's double-Stalker battlegroup.

Two units of Woldstalkers.

And two units of stones.

Hope you enjoy the battle report.

'Til next time.

Witch Coven Battle Report...and the Goblin Tinker!

So this month I have a new interview and battle report video blog post...this time with local player, Garnett Germain. Garnett brought out Witch Coven, so we talk about Cryx in general, and then the Witch Coven "Machine Minds" tier list in particular. For the battle report, I put up a Damiano list.



On the painting front, things have been slow recently. However, I have managed to finish off a great little model: the Goblin Tinker.

I really like the character of this figure.

He's essentially a repair bot, but he hauls around this neat little wagon full of spare parts.

He also carries around this wonderful stove on his back.

Anyway, a lot of fun to paint and a nice model to boot.

'Til next time.